Collateral Damage Daily for June 18

The Red Sox’ injury chronicles have continued; a few players went on the DL, and one is likely to come off. Josh Beckett is heading to the DL with more trouble in his shoulder, which we will go into later, along with Ryan Sweeney and his troublesome toe. Cody Ross looks like he will be activated soon and should help to eat up time in the outfield until Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury return.

In other news, Joe Mauer suffered a bruised right quad after Rickie Weeks came in and hit him with his knee. This should be a day-to-day issue. Bartolo Colon had to leave Sunday’s game because of a right oblique strain and is day-to-day for now. There is a good chance he ends up on the DL. Matt Capps will be out for a few more days because of right shoulder inflammation. He has not had an MRI yet, so that may be the next step if his soreness doesn’t decrease quickly.

Additions

Earlier in the year, Josh Beckett battled soreness in his latissimus dorsi muscle that coincidentally happened a few days after playing golf. The furor that arose in Red Sox nation reached a fever pitch that essentially demanded he be run out of town for cents on the dollar. He was crushed in his first game back but then threw three good games in a row before having troubles again over the next three. Initial tests revealed right shoulder inflammation, and Beckett was placed on the disabled list with the expectation that he would be activated right around when he is eligible to return on June 27.

Confounding Beckett’s shoulder inflammation is the fact that his thumb is bothering him again; he is expected to get a cortisone injection in the area. The Red Sox were worried when they first acquired him in 2006, but they are standing firm though that he should only miss a few starts. History is not on Beckett’s side, though; the average time lost for a starting pitcher with shoulder inflammation is about 45 days. Clayton Mortensen was brought up from the minors to take Beckett’s roster spot.

Jason Bay is another player who is battling old injury demons and was placed on the 7-day disabled list for concussions. Back in 2010, Bay missed most of the second half of the season with a concussion that he suffered after crashing into the bullpen gate. His most recent injury came in a similar manner, and the Mets are concerned that he will miss an extended period of time. There’s no way to predict which ones will take longer to heal, but it’s not uncommon for those who suffered extended recoveries from previous concussions to take longer to recover from a similar force. Justin Turner was activated in a corresponding move.

Friday night, Sandy Rosario strained his right quad and had to be removed from the game in the eighth inning. Rosario felt pain after his drive leg landed awkwardly and was visited by the medical staff before being allowed to make another pitch. It didn’t fare so well; he immediately came out of the game. The Marlins have not released an expected timeline, but the average is 32 days lost in the database. Chris Hatcher has been called up to replace Rosario on the roster.

It has been a rough week for Toronto’s pitching staff. After being among the best with keeping players off the disabled list, Toronto lost Brandon Morrow to an oblique injury early last week, and then saw both Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison suffer sprained pitching elbows in a matter of days. Drabek’s move was retroactive to June 14th,while Hutchison’s was effective on the 16th. No determination has been made about surgery yet, but even if they avoid surgery, they are looking at missing an extended amount of time. The average amount of time lost has been 74 days. Robert Coello and Brett Cecil were brought up to replace Drabek and Hutchinson on the roster.

As expected last week, Aubrey Huff went on the disabled list retroactive to June 11 with a sprained right knee. He injured the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL); in isolated injuries, the PCL is most commonly injured by falling directly on a bent knee. This drives the tibia backward or posteriorly on the femur and sprains the PCL. The good news is that it rarely needs surgery in part because the quads are the PCL’s best friend. It is much easier to strengthen the quad than the hamstrings, which is one of the reasons why ACL injuries usually need surgery. There haven’t been too many cases of isolated PCL injuries—five to be exact—so take the 49 days lost with a grain of salt, though the six to eight weeks lost seems like a reasonable expectation. Justin Christian was brought up to replace Huff on the roster.

It’s not the year of the pitcher; it’s the year of the elbow injury. Wilton Lopez was placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to June 11 over the weekend because of his sprained right elbow. He first started feeling soreness before Tuesday’s game during a normal side session. Lopez has appeared in 32 games so far this season, so his elbow may just be trying to catch its breath midseason. The Astros do not appear to be overly concerned and feel he should just need a few weeks of rest. Fernando Abad was activated in a corresponding move.

Drew Stubbs has been dealing with a strained left oblique for over a week, and the Reds finally felt he needed a DL stint. The move was made retroactive to June 6, so Stubbs could end up coming back fairly soon. With Chris Heisey and others dealing with day-to-day injuries of their own, the Reds couldn’t play with a short bench any longer. The team doesn’t expect him to miss a significant amount of time. Willie Harris was brought up to take Stubbs’ spot on the roster.

Brandon Beachy was placed on the disabled list yesterday with right elbow soreness. Beachy dealt with elbow soreness a few weeks ago and was able to start on Saturday after getting a week off in between starts. That didn’t help him enough, though, and he was taken out during the fourth inning because of renewed soreness in that right elbow. Whenever a pitcher has multiple instances of elbow soreness, there is concern for the UCL, so Beachy will have a contrast MRI today.

Bud Norris was placed on the disabled list with a sprained left knee that he suffered during his start on June 12. He can’t remember exactly when he injured it, but it became most painful after trying to make a diving catch in foul territory. He is also dealing with a sore hip that bothered him a few weeks ago. Norris was able to get through a throwing session but apparently suffered some soreness afterward. By the sounds of it, it doesn’t appear that the injury is serious, but the pain and inflammation can take longer than the structure to heal. Dallas Keuchel was brought up to replace Norris on the roster.

Pushing the Red Sox back into first place—well, dead last, depending on how you look at it—for the most number of DL moves so far this year, Ryan Sweeney was placed on the disabled list with a toe injury. Details are still a little murky as to the exact injury. Ryan Kalish was brought up to take Sweeney’s place.

Subtractions

Carlos Lee was activated from the disabled list over the weekend after missing just the minimum 15 days because of a strained left hamstring. Lee played well during his rehab stints; he went 5-for-10. He’s been generally healthy throughout his career with the exception of surgery for a broken finger back in 2008. He should be safe moving forward.

Doug Fister was activated from the disabled list and started Saturday’s game. The rib cartilage injury that has bothered him for much of the year did not cause any pain or inflammation yesterday, which is probably the best sign of all. He only missed a few days more than the minimum.

The Mets can’t catch a break from injuries. When Justin Turner was activated from the 15-day disabled list, he was replaced by Jason Bay, who is heading back to the DL because of a concussion. Turner was able to make it back just a few days past the minimum. At this level, ankle sprains rarely cause another trip to the disabled list, even if they are a little sore.

The Cleveland Indians activated Jack Hannahan from the disabled list Friday after missing 19 days because of his strained left calf. Hannahan had a pretty rough month of May between the lower back and left calf strains and didn’t make a big splash when he returned, either. He will still split time with Lonnie Chisenhall at third base, at least in the near future. Scott Barnes was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Hannahan.

The Houston Astros activated Fernando Abad off the 15-day disabled list Friday afternoon following 20 days on the DL with an intercostal strain. He is heading back into the bullpen, where he made 15 appearances prior to the injury. He wasn’t exactly contributing that much, though, giving up five runs in nine innings and netting a -1.1 PVORP.

Ryan Mattheus was activated from the 15-day DL after he finished his rehab from a strained plantar fascia. It only took him 27 days, which is a little below the overall average of 38 days. In a somewhat surprising move, Brad Lidge was designated for assignment in order to make room for Mattheus. In a pure PVORP comparison, Mattheus wins 2.1 to -0.3, and considering the troubles Lidge has been having recently, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.